The Chronicler
by Elysium1996
Summary: ****Old Chapters rewritten and betad*** Don Eppes steps into a strange world where he finds out that there is more than one Don Eppes! 138 to be exact. 3 Charlie's and one isn't happy with Don....... the evening just gets weirder. Complete
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: The Chronicler  
**Pairing/Character**: Don, Charlie centered with Megan, David, Colby, Larry and Amita making appearances  
**Summary**: Don finds himself some place unusual, a place between space and time: Infinite possibilities  
**Word Count**: 4571  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Notes/Warnings**: Thanks to my betas **mercilynn** & **bubbleslayer** . I wrote the first 3 parts in 2006. This week I rewrote parts 1-3 and finally added a conclusion. Just a bit of a AU/Crack fic.  
**Spoilers**: Season 5 for Numb3rs

Fic mentioned in this with permission are (and can be found on )

_The 'other Don's" are from the following stories:  
Free Falling & Breaking Free by Cierra  
Donny Dearest by theallbadhat  
The Runaway by D. Lerious  
Ghost Woman by elysium1996_

_The 'other Charlies" are from the following stories:  
Angry Charlie from Cierra's Breaking Free  
Upset Charlie from theallbadhat's Donny Dearest  
Talkative Charlie from the same life that Don is from_

* * *

Don came home to his empty apartment and collapsed on to the couch. It was days like this that made him seriously wonder about a career change.

They had been staking out some smugglers who were also trafficking drugs when a firefight had broken out between the Feds and the bad guys. Don and Colby chased one of the suspects into a lingerie store, only to stumble upon a robbery in progress. The perp holding up the store was only wearing a woman's red thong and bra. After subduing that suspect Don and Colby reported back to the command truck only to be informed by Megan that David had been bitten by one of the smugglers and was now heading over to County to have the wound looked at. After everyone had been rounded up and taken away, Megan, Colby, and Don did a cursory search of the confiscated items only to find that the smugglers weren't only smuggling DVD's but sex toys as well.

Colby had commented, "All the wackos are out! What is it, a full moon?"

Later on, Megan and Don made their way out to their cars after all the horrible paperwork was done, which had taken three hours longer than normal because their computers had gone down. They'd ended up doing most of it by hand.

When they reached their cars, they both looked up and saw that the moon was full, and looking almost bloody.

Megan smirked at Don and commented, "I guess Colby was right."

As he drove to his apartment, a thunder and lightening storm started, knocking out the power on his and three other blocks. Now, at home, he was forced to stumble around in the dark.

He wanted to take the quickest shower humanly possible and then fall into bed to sleep for at least eight hours because, believe it or not, he actually wasn't on call tomorrow.

He achieved both goals quickly, falling face forward onto his bed wearing only boxers. Don managed to get himself under the covers and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

He began to dream, or at least that's what he figured.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was no longer in his bed, but in a long hallway with a series of mahogany doors. When he stepped closer to one of the doors to examine the black lettered sign on it, he read: "DON EPPES".

Puzzled by this, he stepped inside. Once inside, he found himself in a fairly large room. One side was a wall with several televisions embedded into it. He started to step closer to the televisions but stopped when he noticed a fireplace on the far wall and, in front of it, a woman sitting at a desk. The woman had on glasses and her dark hair was pulled up in a messy bun. She was writing in a book that looked to be at least three feet wide and four feet high with a large quill pen in her hand. Don could hear the sparks of the fireplace flickering as she wrote, her quill making quick scratching sounds. She seemed to be lost in thought and didn't even look up from the large book to look at Don.

Something on one of the televisions caught his eye. He quietly moved closer to them and was taken aback by what he saw. The television had a plaque under it, reading the words "Charlie's house, Don Eppes -TV show Numb3rs."

At first he was bewildered by what he read, but then he became quite freaked out by what the screen showed.

He watched with morbid curiosity as on the screen he, or someone that looked like him, walked on the screen and said, "Hello."

His dad's voice then replied, "I'm coming down."

"What's going on?" Don asked.

Charlie's voice answered from upstairs, "He has yet another date."

Shocked by what he'd just watched, he stepped back from the TV and right into the woman from the desk.

He whirled around to face her, her mouth opened into a surprised 'O' and she exclaimed, "Oh hell!"


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

Don's FBI instincts quickly kicked in and he scrutinized the woman.

She looked young, maybe twenty years old, with a purple streak through her hair. She was a little taller than Don, with a willowy type of figure. She wore a white tank and boy cut jeans, her feet were bare. He met her gaze and saw more wisdom in her eyes than his father, or twenty of his fathers, ever could possess. He processed that information and decided she was somehow older than just twenty.

Don asked, in his best FBI interrogator voice, "Who are you? What is this place? And what the hell is that?" He pointed to the video screen.

She gave him a shy grin and said, "It's you. Huh? Full moon, right? Lightning storm?"

He gave her a puzzled look then replied, "Yeah. Full moon, looked like it had been dipped in blood, and there were heavy storms when I went to bed."

She sighed as she started to walk away. "Damn. You shouldn't be here. Well, no harm I guess. When you wake up you shouldn't remember this place."

Don moved quickly to stand in front of her. "And where is this place?"

"Ummm, well... Uh... How to explain?" She glanced around nervously. "Do you believe in Alternate Universes?"

"Uh, what?"

"You know, other dimensions, infinite possibilities of N….." Her voice trailed off as Don blinked in confusion. "Okay, you don't. Maybe you should listen to Larry more….. Anyway, consider this; when you make a choice there are consequences, other choices lead to other possible consequences. Example, when you quit baseball and signed up for the FBI exam that was one choice. What would have happened if you'd stayed with baseball? Did you ever think about that?"

He replied, uncertainly, "Okay? So what does that have to do with this place and these screens?"

"Well, this place records all of those possibilities, what could have been. All the possibilities of Don Eppes." One of her eyebrows rose. She asked, her lips curled in a grin, "You do know you're only in your underwear, right?"

Don looked down and saw that she was right. His cheeks flushed slightly at her amused gaze.

"Don't be embarrassed. I've seen it all," she said nonchalantly.

Don felt his cheeks turn redder. Never in his life had he been embarrassed to be naked in front of a woman

With a shrug, she said, "But if you want, you can put some clothes on."

"Uh, okay. Do you have any?"

"Oh, of course not." She giggled.

Annoyed, he replied, "Okay then, where do you suggest I get clothes?"

She smiled indulgently as if talking to a child. "Imagine what you want to be wearing and they'll appear. Like this." She closed her eyes and instantly, poof, her clothing changed from the casual jeans to a long flowing blue dress. "See? Easy."

He eyed her incredulously but said, "Um, okay." What the hell, he thought, and closed his eyes. He imagined himself wearing jeans, boots and a black tee-shirt.

When he opened his eyes, he was dressed just the way he'd imagined. "Huh, I can't believe that worked."

The woman grinned. "See, easy."

Now dressed, Don asked, "So, the screens. What are they?"

"Well, each of these one hundred and thirty eight screens represents the different possibilities of your life. Some people have more then one hundred and thirty eight, others have less. It just depends." She pointed to a screen. It read "Life with Kim Hall." "In this screen, your mom never died and you ended up marrying Kim Hall. Unfortunately though, it ended up in divorce."

Don watched the screen she had pointed at. His other self sat in his, what he guessed to be his, house and there was a photo of Kim and him from their wedding day on the mantel. He saw her walk onto the screen and tell him that her stuff was packed and she would be gone in a few minutes. She told him she was sorry for what she'd done, but it was over. His other self just sat there and didn't even look at Kim as she spoke.

The woman spoke, "Very sad. You tried to make it work but you were... what do you humans call it?" She tapped the side of her head. "Oh yeah, emotionally unavailable. When she needed you the most, you couldn't give her what she needed. So, she found it in the arms of someone else."

Don felt bad for the man on the screen, mostly because he knew that what the woman had said was the truth; he was as emotionally unavailable in this world as he was in that one.

Shaking the dark thoughts out of his mind he asked before he could dwell any more on that day, "Miss? What do you have to do with all this?"

"I'm your chronicler. I basically chronicle your life."

He raised an eyebrow. "You scribe my whole life down in that book? All one hundred and thirty eight of them?"

She laughed out loud, and it sounded like little silver bells. "Oh gods no! The screens record everything like a DVR. The book is just for me to jot down highlights of particular events." She laughed again. "Could you imagine trying to write one hundred plus stories simultaneously?"

Don answered sarcastically, "Yeah, I guess that would be too far fetched."

The Chronicler stopped laughing, pointed to another screen, and said, "This is the screen you're from. You can watch it if you want. Push that button and you can rewind to see past events, then fast forward up to the present. Oh, and you can't go past the present, no peeking into the future, you don't get spoilers."

He pushed the rewind button a bit, jumping back to about a week ago. He pushed play and watched the events of the last week unfold in front of his eyes. It was very unnerving to watch himself with his family, and then himself at the office. After a few moments, he found the whole thing too unsettling and turned away from the screen.

Concerned, the woman asked, "A little disconcerting huh?"

Don grunted. "You could say that." He turned slowly to glance at all of the screens. "So one hundred and thirty eight Dons?"

"Yeah."

"Why are those three turned off?"

Her eyes turned sad when she answered him, "Those you died in, so we no longer have to record them."

"Oh. How?"

"Uh, let's see. That one you died while working as a FBI Agent, that one as a child, and this one in a car accident with your brother Charlie."

Don replied, "Oh."

She muttered, "Yeah, well, trust me. Dying is a lot better than some of the other stuff you've gotten yourself into."

"What about this screen?"

She walked over to it and read the title "The Runaway. This one you were in an accident while with the FBI and you lost an eye. You're now a PI trying to work up a reputation. The case that you're working on now involves a missing teenage girl."

Don walked up to the screen and touched it when his face showed up on it. He asked her quietly, "Why do I look like I'm high right here?"

The woman sighed. "Cause you are. You're undercover and someone put something in the cookies. So if this isn't a warning to never try drugs, I don't know what is."

"What about these screens?" One read "Donny Dearest" and the other read "Breaking Free".

"Um, this one you got into a huge fight with your brother and, basically, you went to DC to work things out. In the meantime, you had your fingers broken trying to keep a foul ball from hitting Charlie in the neck. Also, your brother's life was in jeopardy over a case you and he solved together. The fight you and your brother had has mostly resolved itself, but I have a feeling your relationship and lives aren't out of the woods yet. I mean, you are laid up with a stab wound right now."

"A stab wound, damn. I really do get myself into some trouble."

"Oh yeah, you could say that."

Don pointed again to Donny Dearest. "And this one?"

Her eyes clouded over with pain as she said, "Oh, you really don't want to watch that one."

He asked heatedly, "And why not?"

"Please Don. It's truly horrible. I only watch it cause I have to check its progress."

"Tell me."

She sighed and pulled her arm out of his grasp. She walked over to a bookcase and pulled a book off. "I'm sorry Don. I can't let you watch it. It's too terrible. But this book has the highlights of what happened." She set it out on the table and opened it about a third way into it. "I'll make you some tea. You're gonna need it."

Don sat down and started to read from where she'd told him to begin. After about fifteen minutes had passed, he looked up at the woman. Her eyes were shining with tears for the pain that the other Don was suffering. She slid a cup of tea in front of him.

He said in a quiet voice, "Why would someone do that… My poor dad and brother."

He shook his head as if to rid himself of the knowledge of what he'd just read. "I'm acting like a toddler."

The Chronicler picked up the book and put it back on the shelf. She gave him a sympathetic squeeze on the shoulder. "I tried to warn you."

"Yeah, you did. Does that woman go to jail for what she did to me?"

"I don't know yet… It hasn't finished unfolding."

"Oh. Can I help this Don out in any way?"

"No, you can't. You can only hope that things resolve the right way. That you regain what you lost from what she did and you can hope that the other Don isn't too resentful of the care that your family provided."

He ran his hands through his hair and thought to himself. He knew himself pretty well and if he knew how his family was caring for him, bathing him, and feeding him, he would be mortified. He said a silent prayer to all that was good to help him and his family through the rest of that ordeal.

"Don, just so you know, most of your lives are pretty good. They're fairly typical, with pain and joy in them. Trust me, there have been worse lives that have had worse done to them."

"How come that doesn't make me feel better?"

She shrugged. "Well it's true. Most of the time you're okay. Oh, and you are one of the very few that have one of your lives as a television show. It's called Numb3ers. You're played by Rob Morrow."

"Heh? My life is a TV show? Rob Morrow plays me? I couldn't' stand him as that doctor when he was on Northern Exposure, when I actually caught an episode."

"Yeah. Oh wait, why don't you watch this one for a while?" She pointed to a screen that was labeled Don and the Ghost Woman. "This is a good one, you just got married to the mother of your child, her name is Elisabeth but you usually call her Elle. She lived in a world of pain for a long time but your love saved her. In this world, you are the happiest I have ever seen."

A slow smile came over his lips. "Yeah? Show me."

She took his hand and led him over to the screen. She let it rewind for a bit and said, "Let's start it here, the first time you held your daughter."

"Daughter," Don whispered, as he turned his attention to the screen to see himself holding a newborn baby in his hands. It gave him chills. What he could have had and could still have in his life, a family of his own. "Thanks. Do you have a name?"

"Yes. The Chronicler of Don Eppes."

Disbelievingly, he replied, "that's your name?"

"Yeah. I really don't have any other purpose, so it fits."

"Well, I can't really call you that can I?"

"Why not?" Puzzled, she asked, "what would you call me?"

"I don't know. Uh, how about…" He thought for a minute about how she had tried to be kind to him, warning him not to want to know about the screens. How her eyes were wise and knowing but with a hint of humor. She reminded him a bit of his mother. "How about Margaret?"

She gave him a small smile and repeated the name. "Margaret. Margaret, meaning child of light." She smiled again. "I like it."

"Good." He nodded and turned his attention back to the screen. He watched the life of the other Don unfold before him and felt joy for this man, holding his child for the first time.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

The Chronicler walked over to where Don was sitting and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's almost time for you to go."

He looked up from watching the screen titled Ghost Woman and yawned. "Time to go already?"

"Mmm yes, shortly." She smiled fondly, pointing at the screen. That Don was standing with his Dad, Charlie, and the woman named Elisabeth, posing for the wedding photographer. "Gives you hope don't it?"

"Mmm, it does. I guess I can find happiness if he can." He thought for a second and asked, "Hey, does Charlie have a room like this?"

"Of course he does," she replied with a suspicious look on her face.

Now Don was really interested, so he asked, "Can I see it?"

"No," she replied, not allowing for any arguments.

Don smiled at her, the smile that usually got him anything he wanted from a woman. "Please?"

"No, that smile doesn't work on me."

The smiled on Don's face got broader as he replied, "Are you sure?"

The Chronicler groaned in disgust and threw up her hands. "Okay, come on. But just real quick."

Don grinned in triumphed as he followed the woman as they stepped into the corridor. They walked about three feet to the left and stood in front of a door labeled "Charles Edward Eppes".

They stepped through the door and were surrounded by one hundred plus screens, just like Don's. At the back end sat a man scribbling furiously in a large book like the one in Don's room. The Chronicler of Charlie looked up to see who had come in. His face was slightly alarmed when he said, "Oh no. Not you too."

Don's chronicler smiled. "I'm afraid so. I think at least five planets are aligned and as usual…"

The other chronicler sighed, not nearly as amused. "Screwing with us." Charles Eppes's chronicler said with exasperation. "Well, at least you only have one here. I have three."

Don and his chronicler exclaimed in unison, "What?"

"See," said Charlie's chronicler pointing to a couch where three dark, curly haired men sat watching one of the screens.

Speaking simultaneously, two of the three Charlie's cried out, "Don!" and rushed over to him.

The one with the longest hair started to cry and hug Don. He sobbed, "I can't believe it's you."

The second one who'd run over to Don said excitedly, "Can you believe this? This is amazing." Then he started to ramble some math jargon about the complexity of the universe and string theory and how Larry would flip out if he knew about this. "Have you seen these screens? They're amazing, there's one where you're getting married and have a baby already. Oh, and I'm your best man, and then there's one where you went to the majors and I'm not a genius... Just amazing!"

Don, stunned at the reaction of the first Charlie, simply stood there allowing that Charlie to hug him. Don just patted the man on the back and said, "It's okay Charlie. It's okay."

Don looked over at the third Charlie, who was gazing at him with seething rage. That was something he hadn't seen in Charlie's eyes since the day they'd fought on the lawn over Val Eng.

Don's chronicler looked at the three Charlie's and smirked. "Oh, this should be interesting."

Don replied with sarcasm, "Ya think?"

She laughed. "You're the one who wanted to come here."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have fallen for the smile."

"The only woman who was immune to that smile was your mom, how did you expect me to be able to?"

"I guess I can't argue with that," Don replied as he continued to pat the upset Charlie on the back, saying, "It's gonna be okay buddy."

Upset Charlie looked up and said, "No, it will never be okay. She took you."

Talkative Charlie finally stopped spouting off about his theory on where this realm existed and exclaimed, "Wow! I'm really upset about something?"

Don replied dryly, "Can't get anything past you, Chuck."

Angry Charlie said darkly, "Don't call him Chuck."

Don Eppes' chronicler shook her head. "Oh yeah. This is going to be really interesting. Anyone want popcorn?"


	4. Chapter 4

1  
Part 4

Don and the Charlie from his world finally got Upset Charlie calmed down enough that he drifted off to sleep on the couch. Moments later, he disappeared in a burst of light, sending him back to his own world.

Don and Charlie looked at each other, both feeling sorry for the man they'd just met and his family for all they were going through. Charlie said quietly, "I hope it all works out some how."

"Yeah, buddy, I know." Don gave his brother a squeeze on his shoulder.

Don's chronicler walked over to Don, Charlie and Angry Charlie. "Boys, you all really need to go home now."

Angry Charlie asked, "And how the hell are we suppose to do that?"

Don watched his chronicler purse her lips in frustration. "Why don't you go talk to the Chronicler of Charlie and he'll help you."

Angry Charlie got up and started to walk away when Don said, "Hey Charlie. I won't pretend to know what you're going through, but I hope that, some how, you work everything out with your brother soon. Life 's too short."

Angry Charlie opened his mouth to argue, when Charlie said, "He's right. Try to work it out. You don't want to go back to how things were before, especially after all you and your Don have achieved."

Angry Charlie walked away, his shoulders slumped. He spoke to the other chronicler and a short time later, he too disappeared.

"Don, promise me no matter what we'll always work stuff out."

Don smiled at his brother and nodded. "Deal. Even if we have to go see Dr. Bradford."

Charlie smirked. "Even if we need to do that."

Don turned to his chronicler. "Margaret, will we remember any of this?"

"No, I don't think so. This is a dream world to some extent."

"Oh, well, then tell us how we go home."

"Sit down." She indicated to the couch. "Close your eyes and relax."

They both complied and sat down. Don took her hand and said, "It was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for showing me around."

She smiled gently. "Good luck to you, Don Eppes, and live your life well." She touched their foreheads. "Breathe deeply and think of your beds."

Charlie said, "Uhh, I wasn't in my bed. I think I fell asleep at my desk."

Don's lips twitched, amused. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Shhhh, breathe and relax, and think of home," she said to them.

Don found himself drifting off, his body relaxing to the sound of her soothing voice. In a blink, both men were gone, no longer in the realm between realms.

He opened his eyes and found himself in his bed, head buried under his pillows. He turned over and stretched; his mind was foggy even though he felt well rested. He was trying to recall the dream he'd had, but it kept slipping from conscious thought. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and made his way into the bathroom to shower.

Wrapped in a towel, feeling relaxed from the hot water, he picked up his ringing cell.

"Eppes," he said in his customary curt tone.

"Hey bro," Charlie said. "Can you stop at CalSci before you go to the office this morning?"

"I'm off today, but I can stop in. I'll see you in thirty or so."

Time passed quickly as Don made his way onto campus, thirty minutes later like he promised.

He stepped into Charlie's office and took off his sunglasses. "Hey Chuck."

Charlie rolled his eyes at the use of his least favorite nickname. "Hey, thanks for coming in." Don saw something stir in Charlie's eyes when he asked, "Did you have a strange dream last night, too?"

"Uhh..." Don started to say no, but fragments of things began to filter in his mind. "I think so. But I can't seem to keep a grasp on it."

"I think you were there, we were in this room with TVs and some woman-" Charlie said. "I don't know about the rest." He shook his head, trying to clear it. "Anywho, I wanted you to see the results that Amita and I came up with."

"All right, show me," Don answered right before Charlie started explaining in length the anomaly they'd found.

"You're not listening anymore, are you?"

"Huh, what? Of course I am," Don protested.

Charlie gave him an incredulous look. "Uh-huh suuuuure. Okay, well do you remember when I talked about patterns in crowds when you investigated the vigilante group who was going after that group of thieves? Well, this is like that."

Amita entered the room accompanied with a dark haired woman. "Oh, look who I found wandering the hallways. Oh, hi Don. Glad you could come. We found some really cool data."

"Hey Amita. No prob, Charlie was just telling me about it," he replied to Amita as his eyes cataloged the woman with her.

"Dr. Eppes. I hope it's okay I stopped by unannounced," the unknown woman asked pleasantly.

"Agent Grier, that's fine. I'll be with you in a moment, if you can wait."

"Please, call me Elle."

"Only if you call me Charlie."

She replied, "and no, I don't mind waiting at all."

She nodded with a warm smile before turning towards Don with her hand extended. "Hello, you must be Dr. Eppes' brother, Agent Eppes. I'm your brother's new NSA handler, Elisabeth Grier. But please, call me Elle."

Don felt recognition stir in his mind when he took her hand; it felt as if it had always belonged in his. "Please to meet you, Elle." Saying her name also felt some how recognizable.

Don turned to look at his brother and saw Charlie wink slowly.


End file.
